Land and properties around Wherry's Lane formed part of a significant redevelopment plan once hatched by South Kesteven District Council, the so-called "27 million pound redevelopment" a name it kept through a couple of decades of wildly fluctuating prices and costs. The scheme had a new square behind the existing shops, which the council called a 'piazza', and threatened the existence of the bus station.

No developer mad enough to spend that sort of money could be found, but SKDC had compulsorily purchased several plots and were holding the land. In the end they chose to spend a bit more than 2 million of ratepayer money to realise those assets. A smaller scheme to build new empty shops along Wherry's Lane, and to convert the 19th century grain warehouse at the end into flats was started in the spring of 2012.

The warehouse was built in the early 19th Century as a maltings or brewery owned by the Shilcock family and known as Shilcock's Mill. It was later let to Wherry's, a local family who rose to prominence as seed merchants during the corn trade boom of the 19th century when steam engines transformed the fenland drainage and first the guano, then the chemical fertiliser trade dramatically increased yields. In Living Memory it was owned by another local businessman, the late Mr Ted Moody, for his company Nursery Supplies. Once the largest supplier of grower's necessities, this company closed several years ago, the warehouse was sold on, and later bought by SKDC. It was probably Nursery Supplies who built the cavernous 20th century extension behind the 19th century building: it used post-war materials, like cheap Peterborough brick and asbestos/cement cladding.

The council, in the paperwork for the job, appear to think that it is the warehouse's association with Wherry's that gave rise to the name of the road. They are mistaken. Wherry's Lane as a name predates Silcock's mill. The name comes from the large house that William Wherry built at the other end of the lane in North Street (TF0920 : The back of William Wherry's house). That house has a datestone for 1846 (TF0920 : William Wherry's datestone).

The last commercial use of the commercial building based on Shilcock's Mill was when SKDC rented it to the builders enlarging the nearby Sainsbury's store in 2010. They kept all their expensive machinery locked up in it at night.

The 20th century warehouse, and the similar asbestos building to the North of Wherry's Lane, which for the last generation housed a vehicle body repairers called Freeman's Garage, are being removed as the first step in the redevelopment.

Included in the scheme is the windowless brick cube of the former Masonic Lodge, bought by the Council as part of the earlier plans. There was some controversy when a local web site used the FOI legislation to discover the council paid £137,000. The Masons have built a new lodge elsewhere.

In April 2012 the Stamford Mercury reported the start of work, and predicted work would last until 'spring 2013' Link

Work was completed (although without doing anything sensible with the landscaped area in August 2014, and the first of the shops was trading in the first week of September. 2014 ended with no other units having been taken.

Planning guidance for the original monstrous scheme still exists, including a map of the then extent: Link It was not without controversy even before it was abandoned: Link

This photo is linked from:

Discussion on TF0920

The picture of Bourne Bus Station TF0920 : Bourne bus station at the height of summer makes this an appropriate square for some in formation about Delaine Buses, which runs the local bus service into Peterborough.This is one of the few remaining family-run businesses still running a traditional local bus service. These disappeared either through the general decline in bus usage or from competition following deregulation and privatisation in the mid 1980s.The main service has always been between Bourne and Peterborough vie the Deepings. For many years an hourly frequency was operated, but with the expansion of housing, particularly in the Deepings, and improvements to the road network in Peterborough which allowed shorter journey times, there are currently (2008) two journeys an hour between Bourne and Peterborough, one of which extends to Morton. The fact that the majority of the fleet are double-deck buses is an indication that levels of patronage are still high. Current fares levels are very competitive with the cost of parking in the centre of Peterborough.Unlike many other small operators, Delaine Buses have not relied on second-hand buses no longer in the prime of condition, but have pursued a policy of purchasing new vehicles whenever possible. Once bought, the fleet has always been maintained to high standards. A good example of this is that not only are the most recent vehicles fitted with CCTV (now a normal part of the specification of any new buses), but older buses have been retrofitted too.A trip on the top of a Delaine bus covers a variety of landscapes including the modern new-town development of Peterborough, the wide-open fenland landscape and the attractive stone-built towns and villages of south Lincolnshire.A selection of views along the Morton to Peterborough route can be seen here. On these I have used the phrase 'With the Delaine', rather than simply 'With Delaine'. This may seem a bit odd, but until just a few years ago, the words 'The Delaine' in scroll letters were traditionally carried on the sideof the buses. This seems to have stuck in commonparlance, even though it was never part of the formal company name. Itwas certainly applied to buses purchased since 2000, although it does notappear on the newest ones.